Guyanese remanded to prison in Barbados on drug charges

Five Guyanese men along with two Barbadians were yesterday remanded to prison when they appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court in Barbados charged with drug importation.

According to a report received from the Daily Nation, Guyanese boat captain Umbar Jasiree Angad, 53; Rupee Angad, 21, a sailor; Peter Granville Gonzalves, 48, a salesman; Shan Ali, 43, a boat engineer and Travis Payne, 30, a sailor, all of East Bank Demerara, Guyana along with Barbadians David Winston Smith, 42, a fisherman, of Coleman Road, Jackson, St Michael, and Ralph Ian Holder, 51, a barman, of Hunte’s Street, The City, were not required to plead to charges of possession of cannabis, having a traffickable quantity of the drug, possession of cannabis with intent to supply and importation of the drug, along with possession, trafficking, possession with intent to supply and importation of cocaine on November 3.

Prosecutor, Sergeant Janice Ifill, objected to bail for all seven, pointing to the seriousness of the offences, the weight of the drugs and the fact that five of the accused were non-nationals who might abscond if released, the Nation report said. Attorney Allan Carter, who represented the two Barbadians—Smith and Holder—unsuccessfully applied for bail on their behalf.

Acting Chief Magistrate Deborah Holder then remanded all them all to HMP Dodds, St Philip, until December 5.